Pilot Officer Cuthbert Mooney
In the short story Cuthbert Comes--and Goes, Pilot Officer Cuthbert Mooney was a young and inexperienced pilot assigned to Biggles' 666 Squadron. Eccentric but cheerful, the pilots of 666 Sqn greeted his arrival "with interest ... but ... without enthusiasm", noting that he was little more than a youth. He was described as unusually fat, with a round ruddy complexioned face with two small twinkling eyes. His hair was long and lank, and knew no parting. Upon his arrival at the squadron mess, Mooney proceeded to perform a realistic imitation of a train form the London Underground headed for Marble Arch. He then imitated a Spitfire engine, with an authenticity which drew some praise from his squadron mates. Mooney introduced himself as an inventor by occupation, born in 1921 and educated at Harrow. When Algy thought he was a little off his rocker, Mooney disagreed. Not just "a little". His own father had believed he was "absolutely barmy". Indeed, he had earned the nickname of "Looney Mooney" in school. Full of enthusiasm, Mooney told Algy that he had prepared several inventions which he intended to introduced for his debut in an operational squadorn. This alarmed Algy, who warned him not to tamper with their aircraft without permission. After Mooney had been called to report to Biggles, Algy pitied the flight commander who would be taking charge of Mooney and then later found out that he was to be the one and he had to take Mooney out for his introductory patrol that very afternoon! Out at the hangar, Algy found Mooney installing something on his aircraft. It was a device for taking care of enemy aircraft on his tail. Mooney offered to show it to him but Algy declined. He preferred to ensure the enemy did not get behind him. Out on patrol, Mooney showed that he was a capable pilot, keeping good formation and observant. They were just about to return to base when they spotted a Junkers Ju-88 high above them heading for home. Algy felt the enemy was too far to pursue but before he could give his instructions, Mooney had turned towards the bomber. Reluctant to lose his wingman on his first patrol, Algy reluctantly turned to follow but his engine then started to knock and lose power. Unable to catch up with Mooney, Algy had no choice but to begin a long glide for home. Shortly thereafter he was relieved to see Mooney returning to join him. Algy's relief turned to horror when he realised that behind Mooney was a formation of some 12 Messerschmitt Me-109s intent on cutting them off. Mooney appeared not to see them or not interested in evading them and remained close to Algy's tail. Mooney's behaviour puzzled Algy. With a healthy engine, he could easily evade the enemy but he continued to stay on his tail. The enemy aircraft continued to close. Just as Algy feared they would open fire, he saw "a streak of orange fire" spurt backwards from Mooney's Spitfire. This caused the pursuing Messerschmitts to swerve as it passed in between two leading pursuers and close to a third one. A second flame shot out and this caused general confusion in the enemy formation which split up in a desperate attempt to avoid it. In the chaos, two of the Messerschmitts collided and crashed. Mooney's aircraft shot out two more streamers of fire and this was apparently enough for the enemy. Their formation having been scattered, they keep their distance and gave up the pursuit. Algy now saw that Mooney's aircraft was flying erratically, a sign that the pilot had been injured. Mooney was barely able to crash land in a field. Fearing that the aircraft would burt into flames, Algy hurriedly landed and rushed to pull Mooney free of the aircraft with the help of some soldiers who had rushed to the scene. Mooney had been shot through the legs but was still in good spirits. It turned out that Mooney's device was a set of rockets which he had rigged to fire rearwards. He offered to show it to Algy when he got back from hospital. Saying thus, Mooney was loaded into an ambulance and sounded its departure by imitating some the "clonk-clonk" of a departing train and shouting "Two to Waterloo!" Research notes In the graphic novel adaptation Squadron Biggles, Mooney's device was changed to a (probably more realistic) fuel-air explosive. '' very well captures Johns' description of Mooney: unusually fat, round ruddy complexioned face with two small twinkling eyes, hair which "knew no parting".]] Category:People Category:Biggles characters Category:WW2 era characters